Chapter 15. An assessment of sorghum and millet in Mali 497
and credit systems often working with the microfinance institution Kafo Jiguinew. An example of
successful producer organization using the combination of savings and credit to assist its members
access to input and carry out collective marketing is given by ULPC (Union Locale des Producteurs
de Céréales de Dioïla - Local union of cereal producers), which represents around 1700 producers
of cereals and legumes, 25 percent of them being women. The union provides its members with
fertilizers and pesticides from its own funds and recoups the costs from farmers after harvest who pay
in kind using a reference price which is calculated based on the average price in three villages, plus a
premium. ULPC also borrows from banks (30 FCFA million (60,000 USD) in 2011) to purchase cereals
from member cooperatives and managed grouped cereal sales and give higher prices to supplying
producers, who also benefit from improved yields thanks to access to inputs and in-kind credit.
A number of factors account for the success of ULPC high level of internal coordination, managerial
capacity and technical competency, which ensures the organizations access to credit from banks.
Moreover, UPLC forged a fruitful direct collaboration with national and internal agri-research institutions
resulting in a better alignment of research to farmers’ needs.
Another successful case is Faso Jigi, a producer cooperative, established to carry out grouped purchases
of inputs marketing of cereals on behalf of producer groups. At the beginning of the campaign, Faso
Jigi offers a fixed base price for cereals (millet, sorghum or maize). In early June each year, it pays to
the producers 60 percent of the base price for quantities it commits to deliver, which allows producers
to finance their agricultural inputs, plowing and possibly hiring labor. After harvest, Faso Jigi pays the
remaining 40 percent of the fixed price to producers after deliveries, but it deducts interest on the
payment made in the first phase.
Management committees of each participating producer organization are responsible for collecting
output production and for storage in village banks. The committees are also in charge of the transport
towards secondary and central markets (e.g. Bla, Niono and Ségou). Collective supplies are marketed
to local retailers and processors, and Faso Jigi also contracts directly with some of them. Faso Jigi
also develops new marketing options and market valorization, as well as marketing channels in order
to offer farmers price premiums. Grouped marketing ensures stable and remunerating incomes to
farmers, which are spread over three periods each year, with possible bonuses. Faso Jigi marketed
around 1,000 tonnes of millet, sorghum and maize in the last agricultural campaigns, in addition to
large quantities of rice, shallots and onions.
Many other collective action organizations had positive outcomes, which shows the potential to scale-
up production and marketing, as well as processing, within the millet-sorghum value chain.
4.4 Toward a strategy for competitive and inclusive sorghum and millet value chains
The following summarizes the structure of the millet/sorghum value-chain in much of West Africa and
is quoted from the USAID study (Mamadou 2010):
- Value chain actors have limited market incentives—generally a result of governments’ control of
input markets and food aid programs—to invest in commercial millet/sorghum production, large-
scale processing, and supply chain management practices. - Growth in millet/sorghum processed products, although currently a small percentage of total
consumption or sales of millet/sorghum has the greatest potential to transform the value chain and
infuse inter-relations between actors with incentives for long-term, win-win cooperation. - Unstable policy environment, notably the unofficial restrictions on cross-border trade in cereals that